By Kemo Cham
The National Covid-19 Emergency Response Center (NACOVERC) is expanding its Active Case Search project designed to increase Sierra Leone’s Covid-19 testing coverage.
Six more districts with high prevalence of Covid-19 cases are being added to the list.
When it was launched back in June, the project, also known as Enhance Surveillance Surge, only targeted the Western Area (Urban and Rural), which were considered as the epicenter of the pandemic in the country.
Major Dr Philip Gevao, National Surge Coordinator, told Politico that the goal, besides increasing tests, was to determine the existence and magnitude of community transmission of the virus. He said they decided to increase the target after the successful implementation of the Western Area component which indicates that there is community transmission.
The six districts are Kailahun, Kono, Bo, Tonkolili, Port Loko and Bonthe. Major Gevao said three of them: Kailahun, Kono and Port Loko will be part of the first phase of the expansion and that they were scheduled to commence community engagement in these district next week. He explained that the community engagement will last for one week, to be followed by two weeks of sample collection and then one week of analysis and post testing activities.
When it was first launched, the Surge project targeted only a select group of high risk people within the security forces – police and military – who provided security for quarantine facilities.
Gevao said the idea was informed by the fact that the security officers were at high risk of infection because they interact with people who come in contact with the virus.
The project was later expanded to communities within the Western Area Urban and Western Area Rural, including Tombo, Lumley and the Kinghaman Road axis, where many of the cases within the region were coming from. Six major hospitals would later be incorporated into the fold, serving as sample collection points.
Figures from the Surge project management team show that as of September 9th, when the last data analysis was done, 4, 611 samples had been collected, with 126 positive cases, with a positivity rate of 2.7 percent.
“This represents a huge success, said Major Dr Gevao, who is also the head of the laboratory at the 34 Military Hospital, one of the major centers of Sierra Leone’s response to the pandemic.
According to Gevao, they had targeted 4000 samples for 10 weeks. He disclosed that the Western Area component is rounding up its operation as the team prepares to commence operation in the six districts.
Gevao said they chose to commence in Kailahun, Kono and Port Loko because they were the best prepared among the six in terms of availability of the volunteers and the resources needed locally for implementation. He added that they intend to ramp up the exercise in the remaining three district shortly after.
Sierra Leone registered its first Covid-19 case on 31st March and, as of Saturday, September 12, the country has had total cumulative confirmed cases of 2, 096.
The NACOVERC has done 32, 273 tests within this period.
Daily testing turnaround has been hovering between 200 and 400. The authorities are seeking to increase it to 1000. To achieve this, the government, with the support of international partners, including the World Health Organization, is expanding the laboratory capacity. Last month a new lab was inaugurated in Makeni. It is one of three labs the government is working on establishing.
Copyright © 2020 Politico Online
